Road winds about the fernie brae
by m.tarnina
Summary: EDA 01: An alien scientist makes a teeny-tiny mistake, resulting in some new friendships for the Doctor ETA: This series is being REDONE from scratch. Leaving the fic here in all its sucky glory, but it's no longer "canon". ETA: This series is being discontinued (it's a nightmare to think up a pre-cartesian companion).
1. Chapter 1

It was truly a fascinating planet.

Not even because the biosphere would change so abruptly. That's what you expect from carbon-based life. Leave for a couple of years, come back to a completely novel set of species. Not everyone can see the point in studying something that's doomed to vanish in a copule of days anyhow, but that was what Sela deemed the task before science, to preserve ephemeric things for the future generations. Besides, the planet had a special location in space, right in the middle of a node within the Web of Time. He promised himself the oddest of anomalies. Who knows, maybe the inhabitants would evolve the time sense?

The year he spent here was a mixture of disappointment and wild happiness. At the beginning he found no sentient life, but wait couple of days and lo! The drones brought news of timid, little budding intelligence. Tingling from delight, Sela prepared the equipment for an industrious period of gathering data, copying mind-patterns, studying them and taking megabytes of notes on the development of intelligence in biochemically atypical life forms.

Unfortunately (this was the great disappointment), the ephemerids showed no signs of a time sense in spe. Sela knew how the perceptional ability was ver y loosely connected to basic biochemistry. The creators of the Web, Time Lords themselves, had carbon-based bodies, although quite durable, and needed special meditation technique to slow the course of their minds so they could communicate with intelligences of the more usual sort. The communication, granted, wasn't usually much of a dialogue – Sela heard all about it in his piloting class, but he never met anyone who'd know anyone to make friends with a Time Lord.

In Cosmos there were ephemerids, rather intelligent at that, only able to register electromagnetic radiation in a spectra so high that would spell cellular destruction for most ephemerids. There were creatures with more familiar biochemistry, but completely blind to gravitational waves. Maybe the ephemerids of this planets couldn't evolve the time sense, because the Web of Time node bombarded them with too much data all the time?

It needed further research.

* * *

The air was thick from the heat and the smell of hawthorn. Elaine imagined herself standing in a monk's cell which suddenly grew myriads of tiny leaves and white flowers, filling the cell with their perfume. Overhead she had a ceiling of branches, hiding her from the hot rays of sun Elaine knew were falling from the sky.

The thicket rustled, shaken by one of her friends' hands, breaking a branch nearby. A startled bird flew right before Elaine's nose, and she, laughing, dove under a thick bough. Her braid caught on a thorn. She untangled it carefully, pressing her own bunch of hawthorn to her chest with her other hand, then she straightened up in another room of the green maze, adorned with clusters of tiny white flowers. A warm sunray wriggled through the greenery to kiss Elaine's head. The bushes rustled.

"Adele?"

Adjusting her hold on the bunch of hawthorn, she stepped forward.

"Adele, is that you? Jovita?"

Clouds covered the sun. Elaine suddenly shuddered.

"I should come back." she said out loud, before she heard the mysterious rustling again.

"Who's there?" A wild boar, maybe, she thought. Trying to move back, she walked right into a thorny wall of bushes.

"Adele! Jovita!" she groaned, but all she heard was her own voice. But wait, there! Among the branches. Isn't it light?

Elaine went towards it, her grip firmly on the fragrant branches. A bright light overcame her.

* * *

Elaine stumbled and, falling, leaned heavily on a bough. She had lost her hawthorn flowers, her head was swimming.

Every breath hurt, but not as much as the one before it. She slid down to sit on a large, flat stone, to wait till she feels better.

When her breath came back, Elaine raised her head.

The forest was sparse here, and rather dry. Elaine poked at a heap of withered leaves with the tip of her shoe. Right by her side there was a wide, sandy road, and somebody was coming. Elaine could distinctly hear the squeaking of sand under his feet.

She waited patiently for the stranger to come around the corner. She wasn't too ill to run, and besides, would a brigand just walk around in the bright day? A single brigand?

And yet the very sight of him nearly made her fall of the boulder. He himself wasn't exactly strange, although very tall and rather oddly, ugly dressed, but the thing he was pushing by his side… Two large wheels, nearly see-through, so thin their spokes were, connected together with an odd arrangement of thick bars, painted dark purple, slightly shiny. Elaine laughed out loud, making the itinerant magician startle and look at her. He must have never expected to meet anyone in the woods.

Gracefully (or so she hoped) she stood up, courtsied and said "Greetings. Would you allow me to join you? I'm heading back to the castle."

* * *

Truth be told, if she hadn't burst out laughing, Nate'd have passed the kid and never even seen her.

"You speak English?"

Judging by the widening of her eyes, the answer was probably "no".

"What are you doing here, on your own?" Nate tried on.

The girl was plaster-of-Paris shade of pale, made even more prominent by a bright blue dress and very dark hair with green ribbons braided into it, awfully well-behaved for her age. Although Nate's photographical specialty were landscapes, flowers and wild animals, not fashion. He knew how to follow animals.

"I'm going to the town, maybe I'd walk you there?"

She didn't understand a word, of course, just stared at him with those huge eyes.

"Listen" he waved his hand along the road, towards the town. "I'm going there."

He walked several steps forwards, then turned to her with a nod. "Coming?"

The girl blinked, then nodded. Together they walked towards town.

* * *

"Can't lock her up for hiking."

"Jim" Nate put his hands on the desk, gazed deep into his cousin's eyes and slowly, clearly, taking care not to use words too difficult for a policeman, said "I found the kid on her own in the forest. She's pale as a ghost, can't understand a word in English. Will you find her parents, or won't you?"

Jim typed something.

"Name?"

Nate swallowed the words that came to him.

"I. Don't. Know. She" he waved his hand at the girl, curled up in a plastic chair "Can't. Speak. English."

"Age?"

"How should I know? Fourteen?"

"Any special characteristics"

Nate looked at the girl, currently busy plucking at her sleeve. Which was bright yellow.

"A completely weird taste in clothes?"

Jim went on with the computer work, while Nate contemplated the girl.

She got some of her colours back, but still was pale. And thin, not anorectic thin, just slender.

Noticing his stare, she asked something in that melodious language of hers, tilting her head. Nate shook his head. He was always horrible with languages.

"Okay, you can take her to the hospital or-"

The door slammed, the kid jumped, Nate was pushed back from the desk by mrs. Janson's strong hand.

"Well, Hawthorne?" She hissed. "It's been a week, to the minute, and Robert still isn't back. Now will you listen, or do I have to do something drastic?"

Jim shrugged, typed something and started asking mrs. Janson for her husband's personal data. Nate shook his head. He did like and respect his old teacher quite a lot, especially right now, and wasn't too keen on witnessing against her in an assault and battery case. Especially that he, himself, wasn't innocent of battering the victim, even if this had happened almost twenty years back.

"Come on." He reached for the colourfully clothed girl. "We've done all we could. Don't worry about the idiot." He added, seeing her glance back.

* * *

Having gotten over the first shock, Elaine decided the strange town was nice, in the way gems are nice: smooth, clean and cold. She did like the tiny gardens and the single trees, painstakingly surrounded with low walls, as well as solid-looking houses, almost tiny castles in their own manner. At the same time it all shone of glass, huge, impractical windows. These must have costed an impossible amount of money. The alleys were little like those Elaine had seen during fairs in the town she knew, as well. She liked how wide they were, and how much light they got. It's a wonder nobody thought of this back home, she mused. Everyone wants more space upstairs. And you can't walk for all the stalls.

These alleys were almost empty. There obviously wasn't a fair today, although Elaine would have felt more at home if there was. She followed her guide around a small pond, apparently purely decorative (how much money did this town have?) surrounded with an odd fence, a thick chain festooning from low posts. Then the guide turned and walked into the shadow between the stone houses.

Looking at her, he said something, but all Elaine could do was shake her head. He gave her the handles of his strange contraption, then he put his hand deep into a hole cut into his doublet to pull out a tiny key. He put the key, in turn, into the lockhole of a simple, wooden door. Inventive, Elaine thought. Who would have guessed this? The inventor opened the door and took the metal oddity from Elaine, before inviting her in with a gesture.

The inside was very bright and much more spacious than she had expected.

"Is this a guild house?" she asked, forgetting for a moment that they spoke different languages.

"Are we going to spend the night here?"

Her guide propped the metal thing on the wall, took off his doublet to hang it on a peg. On another, smaller peg he hung his keys, then took off his boots to stand them by the wall as well. He wore another pair of delicate, white shoes underneath.

He said something, a little worriedly, a little friendly, but Elaine could only smile.

The man looked at her without a word. After a while he waved his hand and opened the nearest door.

"Do you have so much space everywhere?" Elaine blurted out.

The room had enormous windows, hung with a delicate, goldish-coloured fabric. On one side there was a heavy, square table, surrounded by four chairs, on the other – a row of cabinets with a single top, at which the inventor made himself busy. Similar cabinets were hanging on the wall above.

Water babbled. Elaine, curious, came closer.

"Water from the wall?" she shouted, and the magician looked at her from the tap. Of course, she laughed at herself. A water tank for washing. Obviously they could afford having this filled and cleaned, instead of just having a man to carry water. The guide moved, so Elaine could, grateful, walk up to the metal washbasin and open the tap, only a little at first, then a bit more. The water was ice cold. The soap on the basin's edge felt oddly hard, but it did lather when she wet and rubbed it. It smelled nice. Elaine dried her hands with a white towel given her.

"Are we the only ones sleeping here tonight?" she asked, hanging the towel on a peg. The man, having put some mugs on the counter, gave her an apologetic smile. Elaine took a mug to examine – it was glazed ,with a dark, smooth surface, oddly shaped, narrower on the bottom, with a wide mouth. She repeated her question, slowly, in Latin, but the man only blinked. Oh, well. Maybe there'll be someone to talk to later.

The host walked her to the table, sat Elaine comfortably on a chair, very soft, if a little too high, then gently took the mug out of her hands. Elaine watched him fill a colourful jug with water, then close the lid on the jug and put it on the counter. He started opening the cabinets, pulling boxes out, large and small, some shiny, some dull. Water boiled. Elaine looked around her, confused, and her guide put something in the mugs to pour the water from his jug over it. Steam rose from the cups, carrying an unfamilliar smell. A jug that boils water? Elaine thought. Where am I?

* * *

There never was a bench on the lawn by the school building. The older citizens, mrs. Janson among them, would, every once in a while, petition the town council. The petitions were reverently buried in the archives, achieving precisely nothing. Today, though, exactly on the spot where the bench could be, a blue wooden police box stood tall, with a lantern at the top and frozen glass in the windows.

A group of high-school students passed by it, laughing, not even noticing, as if the box had always been there, but mrs. Janson, who left the school a minute later, stopped in her tracks.

"Well, I'll be."

She shook her head. Was that a student joke?

The box opened with a squeak, making her drop her handbag.

"I'll give you a hand." The man, coming out of the box, squatted to pick up her things. He had a nice, gentle voice.

"Thank you." mrs Janson mumbled. The stranger stood up. He didn't look at all like a student. About as tall as she was, he had crystal blue eyes, with a melancholic and soulful gaze. A thick mane of brown hair went down to his shoulders, he was wearing a nineteen century-ish, long velvet jacket with matching trousers and a silvery gray cravat. And he was smiling kindly.

Possibly he was in some fashionable band or other. Something called "Blue Box" or "The Anachronisms". He might have been promoting a new record or something. Mrs. Janson wasn't very well oriented.

"Is everything all right?" asked the maybe-musician.

She blinked. "Yes, fine. Stress." She nodded at him, carefully took her handbag from the stranger and took off, one eye on the road.

"What is it that you find so stressful?"

She jumped!

"Right now – you." She snarked, but her heart wasn't in it. A week of not sleeping at nights and cramming logarythms into young heads during the days, she was too exhausted to be angry. Besides, the stranger seemed honestly interested. On the other hand, he was a stranger, and she wasn't a girl someone could catch with a nice voice and an excentric charm. She turned to the Williams' bakery.

"It's not just the mischievous students, is it?"

The man walked beside her, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"None of your business." She stated, looking out for cars. There weren't any at this time of the day, but mrs. Janson just couldn't (and wouldn't) shake off the habit.

The stranger (wonder of wonders!) stopped on the curb. Mrs. Janson glanced at him from the other side of the road. He stood, eyes fixed on a tablet, or a smartphone, or whatever it was. She really had no idea. The important thing was, he let her be, and the Williams' was just round the corner. She only had tea and oatmeal at home, and Robert could come back any minute. Maybe that's a great big misunderstanding? Maybe he'll be there when she comes back, he'll hug her and apologise for giving her so much grief.

She snorted, wiped her eyes, gave the door a push. The bell overhead rang.

The bell over the door rang, drowning out mr. Williams' voice.

"Excuse me?"

"We're out of apple cake" the baker repeated, awkwardly massaging his neck.

"Everyone buys it, we can never make enough. Maybe you'd like a slice of the nut cake?"

"Mmmm… nut cake? With these chocolate frou-frou thingies?" The possibly-musician stood just by her, holding his smartphone or whatever these are called.

"Erm… see for yourself."

"Great." He sounded like a nut cake with chocolate was the best part of the entire Universe.

"Exactly what you need." He told mrs. Janson with a radiant smile. "To tell you the truth, I wouldn't say no to a little cake."

He bit his lip, like a little girl at the blackboard.

Mrs. Janson looked him up and down. He didn't seem drunk, or starved, for that matter, although his gaze kept wandering towards cakes.

And he obviously wasn't going to let her be. She sighed.

"I'll have a large portion of nut cake, please."

The stranger smiled at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Elaine watched her host carve soft, cake-like bread, cover it with sliced cheese and red berries, very juicy and large almost as her fist. Then he covered each slice with a dry one and put the entire thing on a flat plate. He gestured at her to take the mugs, and led Elaine to another room, darker, cozier, with a large bench, expensively lined with heavy fabric. He put the food on a low table before the bench.

Elaine put the mugs alongside, and straightening up, her gaze wandered to a cabinet by the wall. No, the wall. The entire wall, all of it, was one large cabinet, full of books.

Unthinkingly she walked to it. The books were tiny, some just the size to be comfortably held one-handed, some a little larger. The covers were simple and plain, but nevertheless Elaine expected everything but this treasure. She loved books. She touched one, just the tip of her finger. It was smooth as silk.

The fanfare almost made her jump out of her skin!

"Who's coming?"

Her host sat on the bench, a black something in hand. He patted the pillows by his side with an encouraging smile, so she walked over to sit, quite comfortably.

"We're not going to meet them?"

Something flickered in the corner of her eye. She turned and froze.

The other wall had a window in it, a window that wasn't there before! She was sure it wasn't, and if it was showing the yard, Elaine wouldn't think twice of it, but in the window there was…

Chaos. Colourful spots and blotches, flickering and twinking, making her eyes hurt. And even averting her eyes, she still heard a squeaky voice, speaking in the local tongue.

Elaine swallowed. She had a pretty good idea of where she was now. But – how? And, more importantly, how to get back?

* * *

The kid curled up on the couch. Nate kept looking at her from the corner of his eye, even though he had to watch the news.

"Hey" he said. " Drink your tea, 'fore it gets cold."

But she curled up even tighter, hugging her knees.

"Suit yourself." Nate reached for his mug. "My aunt gets all depressed over the news too, but she says tea's helping."

* * *

Elaine's thoughts were going faster and faster. How is that possible? I fell into a hole between human world and… What if I can't go home?

Abruptly, she straightened, but the magician caught her wrist. Even through the sleeve his skin felt warm. He said something, in a soothing tone, before pulling a mug closer to her. Elaine squinted at the murky liquid.

If you eat or drink in Faerie, you stay there forever. But insulting a citizen of the Faerie… She flinched. Maybe the drink had magical properties? Maybe it'll make her understand the language?

She looked at her host, who was smiling kindly.

By the grace of God, she thought, reaching for the mug.

She almost didn't notice a wheezing, groaning sound, or the vibrating tap that came after it.

* * *

"But I just couldn't let this signal pass me by" the stranger said, holding the door for mrs. Janson.

"Not that it looks dangerous, but I had a feeling I needed to check it before they do. They always overreact."

Carefully he closed the door, then turned to face the slightly bewildered teacher.

"And… Euclid?" Was the first question she thought to ask.

"He'll understand. His bosses have a similar mindset." He scowled, just a little. "We can always have this amphore sometime later."

Moving by her, he carried the shopping to the living room.

Mrs. Janson shook her head. The "musician" was such a good storyteller she almost believed in the Web of Time, which holds the universe together, so people can traverse it. To have a glass with some ancient Greeks, apparently. Or maybe a cup. Robert was the history teacher, not she.

"You didn't tell me your name." The man gave her a confused look, then fluttered his eyelashes and with a radiant smile said "I'm the Doctor."

Mrs. Janson stared at him. "Doctor…?"

"That's right. Can I leave it here?"

Not waiting for an answer, he tossed his mobile on the table and carried the bags into the kitchen.

The Jansons' flat was small, just what a pair of not-yet-retired teachers would need, with a teeny-tiny kitchen. The wide-shouldered Doctor could hardly turn in there, so he gave up after a few tries, retreated to the corridor, letting his hostess in, then leaned on the door to continue the conversation.

Mrs. Janson put on the kettle. With practiced movements, she took out the mugs and the plates.

"I'll have my shopping now."

The Doctor, with a silly blush that would fit a shy student, handed the bags to her, and she unpacked the cake, then reached for a chair. The platter was on the top of the cabinet.

"Maybe" the Doctor said, but she already had it down.

"Thank you, but you're no taller than I am. Normally I'd have asked my husband..."

She bit her lip. The Doctor nodded. "He's away?"

Mrs. Janson put the cake on the platter, vary carefully. "I'd like to go through." She muttered.

Wordlessly, he moved aside.

She put the platter exactly in the middle of the table, and turned, just as he went in with the plates, spoons and mugs. Silently they laid the table.

Mrs. Janson noticed her guest's sad, sympathetic glances.

The kettle sang. They collided in the doorway, but mrs. Janson was the first to step back.

* * *

He must have been hungry. Mrs. Janson was picking at her first slice of cake, watching the Doctor cleanly, neatly and elegantly finish his third.

"Delicious." He mumbled, mouth full.

"I'm glad."

"I used to have a friend, who kept reminding me of eating." He smiled. "I was so busy once she had to yell pretty loudly. That was a row. But she got married."

"Too bad."

"No!" He waved his spoon in the air before drooping his head. "I'm just used to travelling with someone."

Mrs. Janson wasn't a girl. She knew manipulation when she saw it.

Looking right into the sapphire eyes, truthful, melancholy eyes, she said "My husband went missing a week ago. Took a walk in the forest and never came back."

The Doctor put his spoon down. "Why not look for him?" There was a sparkle in the sapphire eyes.

"I talked to the police." Mrs. Janson's fingers clenched on her mug of tea. The Doctor reached for his mobile.

"Hmm… Have you got a map of the neighbourhood?"

She waved her hand at the bookcase. "Yes, right there. In this book. I bought it when I moved in."

He compared the map with whatever was on his mobile screen.

"Hmmm… the core of the anomaly would be in the forest..." Frowning, he took a sip of tea. "Small and harmless..."

He slammed the book shut, nearly making mrs. Janson spill her tea.

"What's your name?"

"Gertrude."

She hadn't had time to blink before he pulled her out of the room, talking a hundred miles an hour.

"Gertrude, we have to see what's in this forest, now!"

The sky outside blushed.

"Right now? It's getting dark!"

"Now!"

She managed to snatch her coat.

* * *

Elaine put the empty mug down. The drink resembled scalded milk, but sweeter, sweeter even than honey, with a different, bitter taste she couldn't recognize. She didn't like it.

"The negotiations are in progress. The UN-"

Elaine sucked in some air.

The magic worked! When she listened to the sound, just the sound of the words, they were gibberish, but all she had to do was stop focusing on it, and the window-voice started making sense. Not much of a sense, true.

"What is a buffer zone?"

Choking on his drink, her host went into a coughing fit. Elaine had to pat his back quite strongly before he managed to say "You (egh!) speak!"

"Yes, thank you very much."

He stood up, his foot hitting the dropped mug. Elaine sat up straight.

"You were pretending not to, right? Got me. Tourist, illegal immigrant? Or do you just enjoy making fools out of people?

"What are you talking about?"

He laughed sardonically. "You're done for. That's it. But lemme congratulate you, the performance was great. You've got my vote in the best lier competition."

She got to her feet.

"Are you… accusing me?"

"Good job! Yup!"

"Well, really." Her palms clenched on their own. "You get me here, give me a magic potion-"

"Ah, an addict? Wanted to wait till I'm asleep and filch something?"

Elaine's heart thumped in her chest. Her cheeks were burning like fire.

"Listen, kobold-"

"You listen. You're out, that's it. Don't you get it?"

"No! I don't, and you're not likely to explain. Good day."

Head held high, she passed him. The front door wouldn't budge when she pulled at it, but suddenly Elaine saw the bar. She opened the door, hands trembling.

* * *

"Doctor, slow down!"

He stopped and waited for mrs. Janson to catch up, stumbling on rocks and leaning on branches.

"Careful" he pulled her up.

"Couldn't we have taken the path?"

It was still visible, a bit, between the dark trees.

The Doctor's eyes were fixed on his mobile.

"Hmmm...mmmm...oooh...uhm..."

Whatever he was doing looked like it would take time, so mrs. Janson used the break in running to tidy herself up. Comb some leaves out of her hair.

"There's no one here." She said, but the Doctor either didn't hear, or wasn't up for discussion.

Mrs. Janson sat down on the nearest boulder, flinching slightly. It was horribly cold.

"There wasn't anyone here yesterday, either." She muttered.

The Doctor's brown jacket was melting into the dark.

"Doctor?"

"Hush." He froze, listening, mobile in a raised hand.

"What?"

"Hush!"

So mrs. Janson strained her ears. Before she said something nice like 'I'd expect leaves to rustle in the forest', there was a deafening "snap!" of a twig breaking. Followed by a loud sniffle.

"Who's there?" Mrs. Janson slid down the boulder. The rustling died.

"We won't hurt you." The Doctor said gently.

Wind blew. The trees squeaked.

The Doctor pushed his mobile into mrs. Janson's hands, while he searched his pockets. "Gertrude here is a very nice person." He said out loud.

"Thanks."

"And myself – a-ha!"

Mrs. Janson shut her eyes, then covered then with her arm. "When was that torch going to come out?"

"Come to the light!" The Doctor encouraged.

"Don't be afraid. We're looking for someone, maybe you know… Oh."

* * *

The light filtered red though her eyelids, stung her eyes. Elaine covered them with her arm, her other hand on a tree trunk. Her heart kept drumming a mad beat.

"Come to the light!" The voice was masculine, pleasant, trustworthy, and Elaine's feet made a few steps towards it on their own accord. She stopped, when the voice said "Oh."

Then it added. "Ooh… New clue!"

"What?" Said another voice, a womanly one. Elaine backed out and hit her back on the trunk.

"Hey!" The woman's protest mingles with an odd, muffled squeak.

The forest floor rustled, the air moved, and the male voice said, right into her ear "Bingo. What a silly word, by the way. Oh. How are you? All right?"

"Eyes." She moaned.

"I'm with her." The woman said.

"Oh, sorry." The man sounded embarassed. "Just a moment. Better?"

Elaine lowered her arm carefully. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinked, rubbed them, blinked again. The man's silhouette emerged from the darkness, well visible in the dimmed light on the lamp he was holding.

He was taller than her, like everybody else she's seen here. Broad-shouldered, clothed in something dark, his face was pale, angular, framed in a mane of dark hair. Clear features, and his eyes… His eyes were blue, sapphire, sky blue, gazing with ages-old wisdom.

"Longaevi?" her lips said. The man looked at her askance.

"Mhm. You could say it that way."

His companion approached, carefully avoiding the stones, but she was an ordinary human. Elaine was sure of it. An older woman, gray locks in her hair glistened in the light.

"I've seen you before." She said, squinting.

"I've only been here for a couple of hours." The girl said, wringing her hands unconciously. She looked mrs. Janson in the eye.

"Then I must have seen you within the last couple of hours." She shrugged. It was probably nothing.

"What are you doing here alone? Do you know the time?"

"Exactly." The Doctor muttered and swiped his mobile before the girl's nose. She stepped back.

"He's harmless." Mrs. Janson reassured her.

The girl nodded, her eyes never leaving the Doctor's fingers, which were tapping the screen.

Now that her eyes got used to the light, mrs. Janson noticed the girl's dress, bright blue with yellow sleeves. Some of Robert's students sewed themselves costumes of this sort for the historical recreation club and mrs. Janson realised she was trying to guess which century this was meant to look like. Middle Ages, for sure. Twelve? The costume looked very well made and accurate. On the girl's shoulder a dark braid was lying, intervowen with a ribbon. She was rather pale.

"Lovely dress."

The girl started, then looked at mrs. Janson and courtsied. "Thank you."

The Doctor muttered something, obviously a bit upset.

"Aha!" He shouted.

"Elementary." He looked the young history buff deep in the eye.

"You woke up in the forest today, right? Can you lead us there?"

"What?" Blurted mrs. Janson, but the girl nodded and went towards the path. The Doctor followed her, torch in hand.

"Alright" mrs. Janson wheezed "can one of you explain what's going on?"

The girl stopped, looking at the Doctor, who shrugged. It made the torch sway a bit.

"Simplicity itself. See, Gertrude," he moved closer, conspiratorily, "someone here's playing with time. In a nutshell – your husband, like… erm… what's your name?"

"Elaine."

The Doctor nodded at the girl. "So your husband, like Elaine before him, fell into an anomaly which compresses time."

"For them" he went on, seeing the look on her face "it went slower, more or less… Elaine, which year is it?"

The girl sniffed. "Does it matter?"

"Be so nice and tell us."

"Eleven fifty nine since the birth of our Lord." She said, stressing the last words. Then, hugging herself, she stared at the ground.

"Right. That would be…"

He moved the mobile about Elaine's face.

"Yeah." He put his finger on the screen. "I was right."

Mrs. Janson felt dizzy and caught the first thing her hand met, because otherwise she'd fall down. The first thing her hand met was the Doctor's velvet-clad arm.

"What were you right about?" She asked slowly.

"The detector claims our Elaine is over a thousand years old."

"A thousand?"

He patted mrs. Janson's hand. "No, it's not broken. I can feel it, too, even if I'm less precise. Hey..."

Putting the torch on the ground, he walked up to the girl. "It's fine, it's not the end of the world."

He handed her an old-fashioned, lacy handkerchief.

"I know" Elaine wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I thought, but…

"There, there. We'll think of something."

"I want home." She sobbed. Mrs. Janson walked up, while the Doctor said, in a firm tone of voice. "Right now you and I have to make sure nobody else falls into it. The anomaly's probably still open."

The girl nodded. He took her hand.

"Lead on, Elaine."


	3. Chapter 3

Obviously, stasis fields and copiers have their advantages – how else would we study creatures that go through their entire life cycle in less than a day? Still, Sela wished he could communicate with them directly. He had no doubt after running the simulations – the ephemerids were thinking beings! Obviously, a copier can't make a real, thinking system, just a copy that goes linear after a while, but it was enough. They had feelings. They'd be happy to speak to him, if they could. If their lifes weren't so fleeting.

He checked the copier, quietly at work in the corner, then placed himself comfortably nearby and turned the reader on.

He had quite a choice of science books, but right now theory and numbers were the last thing on his mind.

"The expedition to planet Lem" he ordered.

Humming of the copier drowned in the lector's voice, in its rhytmic accents.

"Like all things interesting, we found the planet Lem by mistake..."

* * *

Mrs. Janson and Elaine sat on a huge, flat boulder, while the Doctor was bustling among the trees, torchlight in one hand, smartphone (or whatever) in the other. They watched the speck of light walk around the glade and back, rise and fall, and finally lie on the ground.

"Elaine!" The Doctor shouted. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"It's dark, can't we wait till morning?" Mrs. Janson said. "Nobody'd fall in at this ti-"

"Aha!"

Mrs. Janson stood up, but the torchlight and the Doctor were already by the boulder.

"That's just the exit! Elaine came out of here, not in!"

"So we're going to look for the entrance? Now?"

"Better!" He snatched at her hand, but mrs. Janson was faster and took the torch from him. "I copied the signature, now we can go back to my ship to find this one!" He shone the mobile like a mirror.

"You mean the entrance?" Elaine said, disoriented.

"No, the ship."

"And on the ship?"

"Someone I need a word with." The Doctor said seriously. "Also, Gertrude's husband."

"We don't know..."

But the Doctor was already pulling them along. At least, thought mrs. Janson, tripping in the sand, we'll go by the path.

* * *

"Is it far?" The old lady groaned, shifting her weight on Elaine's shoulder.

They were back in town, illuminated for the night by lanterns set on tall poles. Elaine was briefly curious about how many men it took to lit them all. They must carry very long ladders.

The lanterns gave an eerie, yellow light, completely unlike flame or sunlight, so they might have been faerie magic. They made colours look odd.

"Almost there." Their longaevi guide stopped to look around. "Here."

The weird light made the building seem like a nightmare vision, squatted before them. There was a faint outline of a black box in front.

"You're parking on the school grounds?" The old lady giggled like a girl. "Only for the teachers, you know."

"You've seen me step out." He muttered, rummaging in his clothes. Did everyone here have these little pouches sewn in?

"This thing is your ship?"

"Mhm." Keys jingled. The longaevi put one in the barely visible to Elaine lockhole. She saw brass shine in the yellow half-light.

He pushed the box's door, which gave a low squeak.

"Coming?" He asked from the inside. Elaine heard a distant ring.

"How do we fit in there?" the old lady muttered, looking into the box.

* * *

"Why's it so dark?" She asked, irritably, but in the darkness before them a column of green light appeared, with a dark silhouette of the Doctor running to and fro in front of it.

The green light outlined a spiral stair in the dark, then a circular balustrade around the central column, wide at its feet, slimmer and glowing above, then dark again when it meld into the darkness overhead.

"Oh..." Under Elaine's feet, metal rang.

The longaevi lifted his head from looking at the wide part of the column to shout merrily "Shut the door!"

Elaine spun around to do it, then slowly, carefully walked over. The column was stood on a wide, round postument that wasn't ringing despite the Doctor's running around.

He nodded at Elaine, before calling "Gertrude! Don't just stand there, come here. We're about to launch!"

"We're about to what?" The old lady stayed put, her fingers clenched on the balustrade that surrounded the postument.

"To launch, to go get your husband, then I'll get you home, then I'll get Elaine home."

Leaning on the capitol of the column, his hair covered his face briefly. Then he shuddered, straightened up and added happily "Go on, chop-chop"

The old lady gave Elaine a look. Together they mounted the wide steps, walking into the full light of the column. The longaevi smiled radiantly.

"Ready?"

Seen from up close, the capitol resembled the working table of a mad mechanist after a great flood: an utter chaos of brass wheels, switches, tiny things Elaine couldn't recognise, small tiles like the one he was carrying all the time, some with colourful pictures, and tiny little lights inbetween. Wait, had this tile had a different picture on it a moment ago? It definitely had. Elaine backed out into the balustrade.

"Hold on!" The Doctor yelled. They both held to the railing with all their might, when he, eyes agleam, flipped a switch.

The column throbbed with a green light.

* * *

Mrs. Janson massaged her sore knee.

"Let me go, Elaine." She said, and the girl started, but stopped squeezing her hand.

"Here we are!" The Doctor announced with a squint at one of the console screens. "Coming?"

"There's a choice?" She grunted, pulling herself up. "You alright?"

Elaine, pale as a sheet, nodded.

The tin floor clanked under the Doctor's feet. The door squeaked.

"What are you waiting for?"

* * *

The room was white, blindingly, bright;y white, although when her eyes got used to it a little, mrs. Janson saw the sharp edges and crystalline roughness of the walls.

"Quartz?" She mumbled.

"Where are we?" Whispered Elaine.

The Doctor kneeled by the wall, put a sort of an old-fashioned radio microphone (with a red crystal instead of the voice-gathering thingy) to it, then started moving the microphone up and down.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for… Found." A crack appeared on the wall in front of him, outlining a regular rectangle. Then the inside of the rectangle drew back, showing a white corridor.

The Doctor stood up, brushing his knees.

"We landed in a storage room." He said, embarrassed.

"That isn't being used. Um. But the owner must be around. Come on."

The tunnels in this white rock were rather cramped: the Doctor and mrs. Janson had to walk with their heads down. They were also winding and forking every couple of steps, making the guide stop, checking his mobile, muttering and mumbling, until mrs. Janson leaned her tired back on the cool wall, when he inevitably pulled her along into the chosen corridor. The entire place looked the same to her.

Finally they found a blind alley, but the Doctor took the microphone out without breaking his stride. The wall opened at once.

* * *

"Robert!"

The old lady rushed towards the… statue? Elaine stood in the entrance to the cave, looking at a figure of a man, very lifelike down to the colours. Gray hair and slightly stooped shoulders. The statue was surrounded by a column of bright light.

"Gertrude!" The longaevi bumped into Elaine in his leap after the old lady. "Stop!"

He caught her and pulled her away from the light in the last moment.

"Get him out!"

"I will, I promise, but be careful."

"Careful? Get him out, now!"

"Why is the light holding him?" Elaine asked, walking closer.

"Good question." The Doctor nodded. "And the answer… erm..."

He looked around and so did Elaine.

The cave was shaped like half a sphere, with glistening white walls like in the corridor, but here and there decorated with stones of different colours: ruby, purple, green. Tan coloured lines connected the gems, tangled with each other, joining and separating. The column of light grew out from a round depression in the floor and ended in an analogous depression in the ceiling.

The old lady struggled in Doctor's arms.

"Ugh! What are you waiting for?"

"Thinking." He said calmly. "How to get him out and not hurt him."

"Hurt… him… how… let go!"

He did.

"Thank you." She said in a lofty tone, rubbing her wrist ostentatiously.

"Well? What now? Some phone trick?"

He rubbed his chin. "I'll have a word with the owner."

The old lady folded her arms, but it was Elaine who looked around, asking "Where is he?"

"You have a knack for questions, though this one's easier. He's here."

She looked around again.

"He's there, Elaine, but you'll never see him. Could you keep Gertrude from touching the stasis field in the meantime?"

"A what?"

The old lady snorted with contempt.

"Thank you."

The Doctor smiled at Elaine before sitting on the ground and closing his eyes.

* * *

Sela only realised he's been sleeping when an exploratory touch of another mind woke him up. Just a moment, he broadcast automatically. Then he remembered he was alone on board.

 _Who's there? What are you doing here?_

The other mind, bright and symmetrical in its complexity, was having obvious trouble adjusting to Sela's tempo… that reminded him of something. He only understood what it was when he got the communicate: _I'm not from the High Council, if that's what you're asking._

 _I never touched the Web!_

 _Calm down, calm down,_ mollified the Time Lord, sending wave after wave of a friendly, understanding feeling.

 _I'm doing research! You're all for research!_

 _Normally we'd require more in the methodology departament._

 _I'm monitoring the Web, I swear I didn't break anything!_

The answer was a mental equivalent of a deep sigh.

 _I swear!_ He repeated.

 _Calmed down now?_ The Time Lord asked tiredly.

Sela was terrified. Should he lock his memories? The Time Lord'll get anything he wants out anyway. How could he miss a Time Lord on the planet?

 _Stop panicking!_ The communicate reached the very depths of his being. Obediently, Sela froze.

 _I do not want to hurt you_ , the Time Lord broadcast slowly and clearly. _I'd only like to inform you, that pulling people out of their time and dumping them in another cannot be justified by anyone's search for truth._

 _What? No, I… it's just a couple of days, they shouldn't-_

 _Your days._

 _But… the stasis field adjusts their time to the planetary rotation…_

 _Have you had it checked? Anyhow, it's still your days. You don't put them back._

 _No, no, of course not!_ Sela "babbled".

 _So, let Robet go and leave?_

 _Who?_

 _Your current experiment._ This communicate was very snarky in tone.

 _But the copier's just-_

 _Uhm!_

 _I'm not hurting him!_

 _Aren't you?_

 _You people do worse!_ He awaited judgement, but the Time Lord said nothing, so Sela added _I'm gathering data. Just data._

 _What for?_

Huh? _What for?_

 _Why are you gathering data?_

 _Because… erm… it's such a fascinating planet. And the inhabitants are interesting._

 _True._

 _I want to know them better._

 _So do I._

 _What's wrong with me doing it, then?_

 _You're hurting them with your research._

 _But you-_

 _I'm atypical._ The Time Lord communicated in no uncertain tone. _Meaning, I'm up for negotiations, within reason._ The stress Sela read in his mind vanished, although he might just have hidden it better. _Let's talk._

* * *

"I promised... to watch..."

"Three hours! It's three hours we've been sitting here, while he's asleep!"

The old lady pulled out of Elaine's grasp, sending her to the stone floor.

"Maybe the other one's fighting?"

Elaine caught the rim of her cloak and pulled herself up. In the corner of her eye, she saw movement.

"Really." said the Doctor, standing up. He stretched, bones clicking. "Haven't I asked you not to touch the stasis field? What?"

The old lady walked up to him, her feet beating up a rhythm on the stone. "What did you do?" She poked his chest. "Nothing!"

"On the contrary-" He started, but she said "Got any idea how to get him out? He can't even see us!"

"Yes! I have the idea, stop pulling my sleeve."

"Well, I'm all ears."

"We have to go back to my ship."

"No can do." She snorted. "You go, I stay."

"Gertrude..."

"I said."

Elaine was looking at one of them, then at the other. "Doctor" she asked "what is your plan?"

Sighing, he brushed his fringe aside.

"Jump ahead, get Robert, jump back."

"Can't you do it on your own?"

"Ahead in time" he specified. "About a thousand years."

The old lady snorted with derisive laughter.

"Like you were going to get me back home, is it?" Asked Elaine.

"Exactly."

"You're both nutters." The old lady muttered.

Elaine put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't understand, either." She said.

"I do. You're nutters, that it."

"But the Doctor got us here. How do you know we're not in the future already?"

The old lady gave her a wordless look.

"We trusted him, and he has yet to let us down." Elaine continued.

"Not like he hasn't the occasion."

"I promise not to use it." The Doctor said, pulling her hand. He looked her in the eye, which she promptly averted.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. But… ugh!" With a wave of her hand, she marched up the corridor, Elaine and the Doctor following.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"I hope I'm not going to regret this." She whispered back.

* * *

The air was pink in the light of dawn, and cool. A wheezing, groaning sound moved it, finishing with a dull thud. Then a hinge squeaked, unoiled.

"Here, see? Off by a couple of hours, but who's counting."

"Do you have to park here?" Mrs. Janson asked, looking out of the TARDIS at the school lawn. Her husband sighed.

"He's waking up." The Doctor noted. "We could use a bench for him to sit."

"Yes. We could." But the weight on her arm made mrs. Janson sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Well, time to go." The Doctor rubbed his neck. "Elaine wants home, too."

He moved back, but mrs. Janson caught his hand. "Thank you. If you're ever in Leadworth again..."

"I'll be happy to visit." He said with a radiant smile. "Goodbye!"

He closed the door before running upstairs to the console, where Elaine was waiting, hand on the barrister.

"Well then, ready?"

She nodded. The Doctor started typing coordinates in.


End file.
